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- Jamaica Trip
Michael and Colleen Leitschuck (March 25, 2008 - 3:01 pm) - Leaving at 6:00 in the morning from Omaha sure made it a long day but it was so worth it when we arrived in Jamaica. We arrived to a very warm and sunny day. We had our feet in
the sand and water by 4:45, boy was it warm.
Sandals Royal Caribbean is a very lovely resort. The staff was there to greet us with
wet towels after traveling all day and made sure we were each given a glass of champagne.What a welcome...We were given a very nice room with a front porch to sit on to enjoy the scenery, which included a very
colorful peacock that strutted all over the place. Seemed like we were either eating or drinking, what a relaxing time we had. The activities that were offered were awesome. What a great staff they had. My daughter Jamie has already received an e-mail from Tabia a staff member that is so very lively. She commented how quiet it was now that the Nebraska people had left. She and others certainly made us feel very welcome. There were at times it seemed a shortness of staff, which we blamed because of the holiday weekend not for sure though,because the next week was considered reunion week and there seem to be staff all over the place. All in all though it was a wonderful
trip and I certainly do recommend the resort. In fact we are already considering a differant for next year. We were able to take
a bus trip up to Negril for the day,what a beautiful resort that is. We enjoyed the water sports up there alot. Corey we do so appreciate all the time and help you gave us. Having you take care of everything helped make our trip enjoyable and very memorable. We have some great pictures.
Thank you, - Hawaii trip
Ilene Borgman (March 25, 2008 - 3:01 pm) - We had a fantastic week in Honolulu and the island of Oahu. Some of the highlights were the Polynesian Culture Center, 120 mile Island Tour and of course, Pearl Harbor and the US Missouri tours. The tour guides were so informative about the history and culture of the island(s), as well as being extremely humorous. They have a huge swapmeet three days a week at the Aloha stadium, which takes hours to get around. The International Market in downtown Honolulu is equally as challenging. Just walking around or sitting along the beach is a treat. The weather and water is so perfect, you may not want to leave. There is music every night at the hotels, on the beach, in the shopping areas and along the street. The fruits and prepared fish was excellent everyplace we ate.
My only disappointment was that I did not have enough time to go to the harbor, visit Chinatown, downtown Honolulu or hike through some of the areas. More than one week is needed to really appreciate the beauty of Oahu. - Las Vegas
Dave & Marilyn Schmidt (March 25, 2008 - 3:00 pm) - We traveled to Las Vagas on May 21 and had a very nice trip We saw 2 shows, had lots of good food and the room was very nice.
We did not care for Southwest airlines because of the no assigned seats. We arrived at the airport 2 and 1/2 hours early and still were not able to sit with each other.
We found out on the way back that people go on line early the morning of their flight and get their seating - Alaskan Cruise....August 07, 2005
Ron and Marilyn Ross (March 25, 2008 - 2:59 pm) - We had a great time on the cruise to Alaska.
The ship (the Norwegian Star)was beautiful and the service was incredible.
We only took 3 excursions. The first being the "Evening Whale Watch" in Juneau. It was absolutly wonderful. It seemed as though the whales knew we were there and decided to give us a show. We would recommend it to anyone. Be sure and take more film then you think you will need.
Our second excursion, "The White Pass Railway & Klondike Gold Dredge" in Skagway was hot but enjoyable. (The train did not have windows that opened).
The third excursion was the "Guided Wilderness Fly Fishing" that Ron went on. He was delighted with it and would like to do it again some day.
All in all it was a terrific first cruise for us. Matt and Melissa Glenn were great in taking care of us and our luggage. We knew exactly where we should be and what we should do all of the time.
Thanks Matt and Melissa for a great and enjoyable trip!!!!!!!!
- Alaska Cruise
Marge Caldwell (March 25, 2008 - 2:59 pm) - View Photos! - I recently returned from a 7 day Alaskan Cruise hosted by Steve and Marie Glenn of Executive Travel. We sailed from Seattle on Celebrity's Mercury ship. The entire trip was awesome. The scenery was gorgeous, the food was fabulous, the Mercury crew spoiled me rotten and the Glenn's took care of my every need. While Lincoln was sweltering in 105 degree temps, we were needing light jackets with 50-60 degree temps. This was my first cruise - but definitely will NOT be my last! The Glenn's are the host and hostess with the "mostest."
- Sandals Grande St Lucien trip
Lee M (March 25, 2008 - 2:58 pm) - I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful trip Les and I had! We took quite a few pictures, but we don't have a digital camera, so I can't include them here.
In San Juan, the Intercontinental was VERY nice We spent a little time at the casino, pool, and beach at the hotel. They gave us free champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries in our room the first night. We spent most of our full day in Old San Juan. We toured Bacardi and the old El Morro fort, walked all over, and ate at a good restaurant. We were so glad you suggested we stop over in San Juan on our way to St Lucia. We wish we had booked another night there; there is a lot to see and do, and the people were very friendly. We'd love to go back sometime. It was nice to get to St Lucia at a decent time, and we heard several people at Sandals complain about flying into the big airport and being on the bumpy roads for 90 minutes to get to Sandals.
St Lucia was unbelievable! It is beautiful there, and the people are so nice. Since it's summer and the rainy season, it was a little hot and humid, and it rained just a little almost every morning, but then it cleared up and was sunny all day. The afternoon sun was pretty intense
- -
we used almost 2 bottles of sunscreen - - but we still think this was a great time of year to go because it wasn't crowded. We didn't have to wait in line for anything. The Sandals was great - - - the breakfast and lunch buffets were excellent, and the evening meals were even better. One day, we spent some time on the beach, and spent most of another day at one of the pools. We were already planning to do a couples massage at the spa on our anniversary, and then we won a "salt glow treatment for 2" at the Sandals' manager's reception, so we ended up being at the spa for about
2.5
hours! We had a 55 minute Swedish massage, the salt glow exfoliation, then they painted hot seaweed on us and wrapped us up in plastic and towels and we lay on a heated table for about 25 minutes. After we rinsed that off, we had a long whirlpool bubble bath, and the staff brought us drinks, then they put moisturizer on us. We felt like wet noodles after all that, it was great!!
They always had activities, although we didnt' participate in many of them.
We did go to Caribbean night. They had a HUGE buffet with lots of local dishes, (including a whole roast pig) right on the beach. After dinner, they had a local steel drum band play, then they had local dancers, then a limbo contest.
Fort Rodney is close to the resort, so one day we hiked up and took great pictures from there.
We did three excursions while at Sandals:
We went on a shopping trip to the craft market in downtown Castries and
the duty free shops one morning.
We went on a full-day catamaran trip to Soufriere. When we got there
they loaded us into vans and we went to the volcano, botanic gardens,
and ate at a local restaurant. On the boat trip back, they stopped for
about 45 minutes so we could snorkel and swim. They gave away several
bottles of champagne on the trip back, and we won one of them for being
married the longest of anyone on the boat.
The best excursion we did was a bike ride in the rain forest. We were
with 7 other couples, and we went in an open-air jeep to the other side
of the island and drove into the rain forest. We got our bikes and rode
for a short time, then stopped at a waterfall and swam. Then we rode
3-4 miles out to a fishing village, had drinks, then got into the jeep
again and were back at Sandals in time for lunch. On the ride back,
they stopped several times so we could take pictures. The guide and
driver on that trip told us all about the island; culture, crops,
schools, taxes, property ownership, food, religion..... they said we
could ask them anything, and we did. We learned a lot.
I think one of the best things about the vacation was meeting so many nice people. We talked to several staff members, and they were all great.
We
met people from all over the US and some from England. This was our first time at an all-inclusive, and we liked it, and would do it again in a minute. But, we also think it would be nice to go there and stay in a local hotel and eat in local restaurants; we felt safe when we were off the resort, although I know that may not be the case on every caribbean island.
Our only complaint was that Sandals did not have an ATM. We should not have assumed they would have one, but we did, so we didn't take a lot of cash with us. We didn't need cash at the resort, of course, but we wanted some for shopping. (There were several opportunities to buy jewelry, crafts, and shells from locals who didn't take credit cards.) When we went to downtown Castries, we found 3 ATMs but they were all out of order!
Finally, Les found a bank with a working ATM. Sandals advertises that you don't need to pay for anything, but they do encourage excursions, and you need cash to tip the guides and also for shopping off the resort.
When we booked the trip, we thought 2 nights in San Juan and 6 in St Lucia would be enough, but now we wish we could have stayed in both places longer. We talked to many couples who were staying at Sandals for 10-14 days.
This trip makes us want to see all the other islands, too!
- Viking River Cruise down the Danube
Fred and Esther Beile Crete, NE (March 25, 2008 - 2:55 pm) - This cruise was everything we asked for and we recommend it highly. The ship was in perfect shape, the crew so friendly and helpful, the food excellent and its presentation lovely. Everything from the travel buses to the guides and on board entertaiment was first class. The city visits were well thought out and we were very pleased with the attractions offered. We hope we'll be able to go again on one of their cruises. The tours are small, 150, and this appealed to us.
- Our travel agent reports on her trip to Cancun
(March 25, 2008 - 2:55 pm) - Paul and I just got back from taking a company to Moon Palace in Cancun. Moon Palace is very spread out and has a lot of pool space which most people use. The beach was nicer than I had remembered. It is a nice long beach. There are the seaweed issues that they do try to maintain every day. There were areas that were clear of seaweed for the most part and people got in the water there, but there was a big truck and a couple tractors that kept going up and down the beach clearing what had washed up from the night before and they did this all morning as far as I could tell. On my afternoon off, I went to the Beach Palace to scope out the beaches on the hotel zone. The beach in front of Beach Palace was 20 ft wide at the widest point and waves were crashing into the concrete barrier in which the hotel sits on at the other end! A couple years ago, Cancun spent a fortune to rebuild it’s beaches, but as far as I could see, they were all washed away. The waves crashing in were 3 – 5 ft. There were very few people jumping in them and the people riding jet skis kept rolling them due to the waves. Moral of the story; be very careful when selling Cancun properties that run north and south along the hotel zone. Make sure to qualify you clients on what they expect from a beach/water and confirm the status of the beach with the property. I did also see a couple of the properties that run east/west along the top of the 7. There the waters were very calm and nice big beaches with shallow waters in front. Great for being in the water. There are a couple RIU properties there that would be excellent to sell.
- Cotton Bowl--air trip
Charlie & Vickie Pickering (March 25, 2008 - 2:54 pm) - We had an excellent time! We also went on the USC trip. Just a minor suggestion--for us older folk, it would be beneficial if you had some activities planned for days we didn't have events. It is difficult for us to rent vehicles and drive in the highly populated metro areas. I know it is difficult to plan side trips to suit most
participants, but a side trip to Disneyland, Knotts Farm, Dodger BB, etc would of been fun. We were really impressed with social we had with Sean Callahan--great job. We will continue to travel with you. Charlie & Vickie Pickering, Syracuse, NE
Joni Paulsen (March 25, 2008 - 2:54 pm)- Melissa: We were on a recent trip to Cabo. The hotel was nice but too quiet for us. Not much going on and very little entertainment to keep us at the resort. Some areas of the hotel (snack bars, etc.) were not even open. We spent LOTS of money on taxis to Cabo San Lucas for shopping, water sports, tours, etc. I would recommend Cabo but I would stay in San Lucas not San Jose. San Jose is too far away from excursions, etc.
The excursion we really enjoyed was the whale watching/snorkeling trip. Well worth the money!!
